excited to have a sad, funky experimental story in this upcoming special issue! my love for museum prep and folklore will never die

Translations that digest their own tongues. Expressions of the ephemeral creatures that blip in and out of existence when language is toggled. Threads that weave disparate voices together. We are looking for flash fiction about the things that fall away, transform, and negotiate new bodies as the words that create either their home or their prison shapeshift around them. Our usual submission guidelines apply. We define Flash Fiction as anything under 1000 words. No AI ever. We mean it.

Submissions are open for "Nabokov's Suspension"

Submissions are OPEN!
thecosmicbackground.moksha.io/publication/1

NABOKOV'S SUSPENSION
Edited by Jehanne Bell
👅🧵👻🎤✍️

We are looking for flash fiction about the things that fall away, transform, and negotiate new bodies as the words that create shapeshift around them.

About Jehanne Bell:
A collection of trivia, fascinations, and contradictions who will seek reflections of narrative in any medium. Enthralled by language and concept, having grown up in a multi-lingual home. Number of languages studied depends on whether you count programming languages.

Open submissions April 8-May 8 for "Nabokov's Suspension" - guest edited by Jehanne Bell

Translations that digest their own tongues. Expressions of the ephemeral creatures that blip in and out of existence when language is toggled. Threads that weave disparate voices together. We are looking for flash fiction about the things that fall away, transform, and negotiate new bodies as the words that create either their home or their prison shapeshift around them. Our usual submission guidelines apply. We define Flash Fiction as anything under 1000 words. No AI ever. We mean it.

Tomorrow April 8 we open for our next Guest Editor issue...

NABOKOV'S SUSPENSION
Edited by Jehanne Bell
👅🧵👻🎤✍️

We are looking for flash fiction about the things that fall away, transform, and negotiate new bodies as the words that create either their home or their prison shapeshift around them.

www.thecosmicbackground.com/stories/stef...

"In Daniel’s memory, the waters of the swift and scalding spring were dark and viscous, like the back of a seething serpent..."

Check out "We Have Always Bathed in the Scalding Spring" by Stefen Holtrey. 👇 www.thecosmicbackground.com/stories/stef...

Poster for the stories selected for “Ghosts & The After Life” edited by Ai Jiang: EC Dorgan “Flehmen Grimace” Samir Sirk Morató “unwell naturalist’s historic fairy collection” Emmi Khor “The Art of Rebirth” A little ghost sketch too!

We are excited to announce the stories for our issue “Ghosts & The After Life” edited by Ai Jiang @aijiang.bsky.social 👻

EC Dorgan “Flehmen Grimace”
Samir Sirk Morató “unwell naturalist’s historic fairy collection” @spicycloaca.bsky.social
Emmi Khor “The Art of Rebirth” @emmikhor.bsky.social

And submissions are closed! Thank you to everyone who submitted to this call!

We have another call and guest editor coming right up. Stay tuned.

Just a few more hours to get your submissions in!

SURPRISE! To celebrate spring break, we our extending this call for stories through APRIL 5!

Kick back, get the gold on Rainbow Road, and polish up that flash fiction. Time is ticking.

Submissions are open for The Cosmic Background's next issue: THROWBACK TECH. Edited by Jacob Baugher. Submissions are open through March 31.

Call for Submissions: Throwback Tech Guest Editor Jacob Baugher Haunted Super Nintendos, Tube TVs that show alternate realities, radios that receive broadcasts from the future or other worlds, GameBoy Colors that receive cosmic messages through Pokemon Yellow. We are looking for flash fiction about our technological pasts that affect our emotional presents and physical futures. Due March 31

Submissions are OPEN for our special issue theme:

THROWBACK TECH 🎥📺📻🎮📀📼🕹️👾
Edited by @prof-bogs.bsky.social

Let's do this. You have until March 31. It's a new year, let's celebrate with old tech.

➡️ thecosmicbackground.moksha.io/publication/...

The Cosmic Background is BACK.

We know. It's been a minute.

After getting lost in the static for a while, we are opening up submissions and we will soon announce the stories from our Ghost & Afterlife issue. Stay tuned for that! We are super excited about these ones 👻

Yelp.

Check out my flash fiction piece at @thecosmicbgr.bsky.social below!

J.D. Harlock -- A Galaxy Run in 30 Minutes or Less As soon as Carna steps into the lift for a date with that cute girl from the dispatch division, her pager notifies her of a job on the other end of the galaxy. The pay would cover her rent, but should...

Let's do this! "A Galaxy Run in 30 Minutes or Less" by J.D. Harlock! www.thecosmicbackground.com/stories/j-d-...

By The Spin by Anya F. Bloom

A unsettling tale for Halloween Week. heck out "By The Spine" by Anya F. Bloom!

www.thecosmicbackground.com/stories/anya...

Elise Stephens -- Suspension Content warning: Miscarriage and depression If the proper balance of sorrow (tears) and hope (blood) are mixed in the correct quantity and potency, then for one hour the donor may glimpse the lost ...

Link here and in our bio: www.thecosmicbackground.com/stories/elis...

Check out "Suspension" by Elise Stephens

This story is the first of our stories sought specifically from writers of Palestinian descent. Elise Stephens is smart, and articulate, and brave. She is talented, witty, and a spectacular writer.

Check out "Suspension" by Elise Stephens @elisestephens.bsky.social

Hi!
Have you ever wanted to chat with David Steffen, (aka the weird gremlin known dor Diabolical Plots, Submission Grinder, and Long List Anthology)?
there is a lottery signup to do just that online with Flights of Foundry, session on September 26th!
flights-of-foundry.org/lottery/

are you ready for some big news?

WE ARE OPEN

for BIPOC subs for issue 100!

and we are celebrating with a special theme: Transition, Migration, and Borders: Movement in, and of the Body

💖for those of us who find home in liminal spaces💖

find out more here:

psychopomp.com/fantasy-maga...

YOU are the gem💎

lol we are at $2K not $2 but you know…that extra money will help with editing 🤣

Aww shucks. What he said 😭

Donate to Support The Cosmic Background's Diverse Voices, organized by Sam Asher For two years, The Cosmic Background has been the world's premier venue for f… Sam Asher needs your support for Support The Cosmic Background's Diverse Voices

Hellllooooo from the static! It is fundraising season for many spec mags out there. We are doing things a little differently with a small gofundme to help us into 2026.

We are already at $2 and just need a little boost to help us to our goal of $2400 👻

www.gofundme.com/f/support-th...

Artwork by the amazing @nivnotes.bsky.social ❤️

Drawing of a plushie named Snuggles.

STORYTIME! Yes, we are a little behind on uplifting the latest stories we've published but that just means we can REMIND YOU THEY ARE AWESOME!

Check out "Burn it Down" by Beth Dawkins @bethwrites.bsky.social :
www.thecosmicbackground.com/stories/beth...

The Cosmic Background: “By the Spine” A fun take on the theme that everyone has a story, but a little heavy-handed in that Bloom has taken the idea as literally as possible.

Check out our review of Anya F. Bloom's short story in @thecosmicbgr.bsky.social! I enjoyed it!

Also, if you're not familiar with The Cosmic Background, their site design and overall vibe are really unique.

(McKenzie)

cthulhuville.com/2025/05/06/t...

Reminder to everyone that if you email submissions to @thecosmicbgr.bsky.social instead of using our Moksha, ain't nobody reading those.

Locus is a vital part of our industry. If you enjoy @thecosmicbgr.bsky.social then know that they're a vital resource to us, and basically every other pro and semi-pro paying magazine. Support them if you can!

Okay, I'm no longer hospitalized, and @thecosmicbgr.bsky.social is open. Hurrah.